Names

I've been struggling with coming up with baby names for these boys.  I have a handful picked out for first name and a shorter list for middle names which was helped by this story:

A good friend and I were out to dinner (at a restaurant with their nutrition guide online so I could pick something diabetes friendly), and our waiter, who was quite chatty, was named Keenan.  Hmmm, I thought.  Keenan.  Not bad.  I asked Keenan what his middle name was and he said, "Paul."  Then, out of the blue, our blue-eyed, 20-something year-old waiter outed with, "I was conceived by artificial insemination and the doctor's name was Paul."  I almost fell out of the booth.  What are the chances?  And how cool was it that he shared that information like it was the neatest thing ever.  (And it was!)  I told him my boys-to-be were conceived the same way and he thought that was great.

The next morning I was still mulling over names and I remembered my mother speaking very fondly of her grandfather.  When she was young, she used to spend summer vacations with her grandparents and help her grandfather pick strawberries.  She adored him and when the boys would come around, he would say in an Italian accent, "Rosalia, go take a break.  Go rest," to 'protect' her from the boys who found her so pretty.  She loved her summers with her grandfather.  It never occurred to me to ask her what her grandfather's first name was and if she had mentioned it in the past, I didn't remember so I sent her an email and asked her.  This was her response:  "Paul, son of Carmen and Petinella, who married Angelica, daughter of Genevieve and Carmen.  They had five children, Genevieve, Pauline, Carmen, Pearl and Anthony.  Just wanted to throw in a little history." *

Huh!  There's that name again!  And I adored my great aunt, Pauline, who was name after her father, Paul.  I didn't share this with my mom so she can be surprised but I'm pretty sure Paul will be one of the middle names with my late grandfather, her father, Lewis, being the other's middle name.  I think it's fate.  :)   Let's hope someone drops a bomb on me to help me pick some first names too.

In other news -

• The gestational diabetes has been under control.  So far, so good.  I do my best to follow the diet and my blood sugar readings have only been elevated a few times.  Everyone seems happy with that.  I do miss my favorite pastas, pizzas and Friendly's Health Bar Sundae! but I'll survive without them.
• I had another ultrasound yesterday and just found out I could have had a DVD of all my ultrasounds!  There was this tiny sign where you check-in that said something about purchasing a DVD for one dollar.  Damn.  I would have loved the anatomy scan on DVD - it was a nice long appointment and they looked at everything.  As it was, I did get a DVD of yesterday's scan and it's just okay.  The boys are pretty big and crowded so the pictures aren't the best but I'll take what I can get.  They are still measuring ahead and estimated to weigh around 3.5 pounds each.  Baby A is head down and Baby B is cross-wise like they are making the letter T.  
• My work shower was last Saturday and my co-worker who hosted it at her house could honestly give Martha Stewart a run for her money.  It was beautiful.  Her house is right out of a magazine; the food was great and the gifts - the gifts! - were overwhelming.  I was truly touched.  The family/friends shower is this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it.   Pictures from both showers to follow soon!!!

*last names removed.